WVU Preview 2016

[scott715]

http://www.register-herald.com/sports/c ... c7ff4.html

They are already looking forward to our game. They beat Missouri week 1.

[MountaineerLegion]

Greetings Cougars.

I know you all have a contest tonight vs UCLA, but it's our bye week so I'm posting now. Hopefully some of you will give me the lowdown on your team this year.

What would you consider as your strengths and weaknesses?

What is the chance you all think you will get one of the Big 12 invites? Which new schools (1 or 3) do you all want in with you?

Is not playing on Sundays a hard requirement of the university, or is there room for negotiation?

Are you going to the game and what size crowd do you think you'll bring...it's a long trip for you all?

Lastly, what is your game prediction? Why?

Thanks in advance and here's to a safe exciting game!

[a1247]

Welcome MountaineerLegion,
The defense so far has been the strength of this team along with the running back Jamal Williams. Hopefully the offense with the new system Ty Detmer brought in this year will start to click and get rolling.

The big12 should invite the cougs they are the only canadite that across the board already functions as a P5. But I have little faith that they will get the invite. Political meddling will screw everything up.

You have to know the Sunday play has ZERO wiggle room. But it's only for BYU, it's not like the other teams can't play on Sunday. The only real issue is the basketball and soccer championships.
Let me ask you is having the basketball championship on Sunday really such a big deal that it couldn't be moved to Saturday night?

BYU ALWAYS travels well I wouldn't think it's out of the realm of possibility that 20,000+ fans show up for the game.

Now tell us a little about your team, give us an idea who the cougs will be playing next week.

[MountaineerLegion]

Your strength has been on defense, ours is our offense.

Our offensive line has been touted in the press as top 5 in the country. Since then we lost one of our starters for the year. Colton McKivitz was thrust into the melee and coach Holgs heaped praise on him...motivational or fact, only coach knows.

Our QB Skyler Howard is a senior and excels at the long ball. You guys are no Youngstown State but he dropped balls of 53, 54, 57, 21, 11, all for TDs, perfectly into his receivers hands. He did have issues with accuracy on the medium throws last year, overthrowing many of them. Last year he completed only 54.8%. This year he's shown improvement and is completing 63%. He is not shy about tucking it and running.

Our running backs ran for 241yds against Mizzou. They are good but not great, although we're averaging 5.1 ypc.

Our receiving corps is an embarrassment of riches. If you don't know anything about us we've sent 4 receivers to the NFL, two in the first round, since 2013. They are tall and fast. Ka'Raun White (6'1", 200lbs) is the brother of Kevin White who was drafted #7 overall and seems to be cut from the same cloth. Receivers are just eager to play for Holgorsen's offense.

Ahhh our defense. We had a pretty good defense last year. The problem is we lost 4 starters from the secondary to the NFL. Our secondary is a work in progress. Some other Eers fans may disagree but I feel our defense just needs to keep it close and our offense needs to win the game.

In reply to the other issues...

I think the no Sunday play will hurt you all if it is in fact non-negotiable (not doubting you), but I understand BYU's position. No it's probably not a show stopper for the tournaments. I think it's a matter of not wanting to cobble a conference together with a bunch of misfits. We're already a misfit in that we're WAY outside the typical geographic boundaries and they make accommodations for us regarding travel. Oh, by the way the soccer tourney isn't an issue...everyone knows WV is winning that (sorry a little gloating...we're ranked #1 in the nation). Edit: Just saw you all were ranked #6! Let's get it on.

Well if you all "ALWAYS" travel well it may be a big crowd. It's close for us and we also ALWAYS travel well. We regularly got a better bowl than we deserved in the old Big East because of it.

[scott715]

Also note that our volleyball team is #9. Our women's programs do very well across the board. Last year I think almost all of them were first place in the conference. The women's volleyball team made the finals two years ago.

I would like to see UConn or Cincinnati as the other invite. Houston's football team is good but political a hot potato and will not be invited.

I think if BYU is not invited there will be no expansion. We are the only option that would add to the conference.

[MountaineerLegion]

Scott,

I think you all have us beat on women's sports as a whole. Our rifle team is coed though and has 17 national championships...does that count? Beyond those I'll just have to swallow my pride and remain silent.

I just can't get excited about Houston. Cincinnati and UCONN would be fine with me and they would make a tough basketball conference MUCH tougher.

Interesting thought on BYU or nothing. Can't agree or disagree as I've heard numerous selection criteria tossed around and I'm not smart/knowledgeable enough to know which ones have merit.

[TheDean]

if they can fix the o-line problems. Like teaching them how to run block and pass block.

[MountaineerLegion]

The line is out...WVU -4.5. Basically a tossup. Thoughts?

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-foo ... las-vegas/

[mtnradio]

Sounds like Vegas is giving a slight edge to your O ... which makes sense given your description of your receivers ... if you are accurate, they will have an edge on our db's who often give too much cushion and who's tackling can be suspect

[MountaineerLegion]

Actually that sounds like a reasonable plan. Play soft enough that our receivers can't get behind the coverage and force our QB to complete the mid range passes he struggles with. The poor tackling, there's no way to spin that into a benefit.

How do you all fare against uptempo offenses? Is your Dline deep enough to keep your guys fresh the whole game? I just don't know much about your team.